Politico Reporter Doesn’t Believe Senator’s Story Of Sexism In Congress

This photo taken Jan. 21, 2014 shows Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., chair of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Personnel, discussing her proposed reforms for prosecuting sexual assaults in the military, dur... This photo taken Jan. 21, 2014 shows Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., chair of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Personnel, discussing her proposed reforms for prosecuting sexual assaults in the military, during an interview with The Associated Press in her Capitol Hill office in Washington. An Associated Press investigation into the military’s handling of sexual assaults in Japan has found a pattern of random and inconsistent judgments in which most offenders are not incarcerated. Instead, commanders have ordered “nonjudicial punishments” that ranged from docked pay to a letter of reprimand. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. ET

Bresnahan tweeted an apology for his comments later Wednesday night.

A senior congressional reporter for Politico tweeted on Wednesday evening that he did not believe Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s claims that she had been subjected to sexist remarks and actions from her congressional colleagues.

John Bresnahan is a longstanding and respected congressional reporter for Politico. But he responded skeptically after Gillibrand recalled several sexist encounters in a yet-to-be-released interview with People magazine about her forthcoming book. The New York Post reported on portions of the People interview Wednesday.

Bresnahan weighed in when Huffington Post associate politics editor (and former TPMer) Igor Bobic tweeted out a headline about Gillibrand’s reported tales of being told not to get “porky” and also told not “to lose too much weight… I like my girls chubby” by congressional colleagues.

It is not clear if there was a specific story that Bresnahan doesn’t believe or why he was skeptical. But Bresnahan reaffirmed in a follow-up tweet that he didn’t believe Gillibrand’s version of events.

TPM called and emailed Bresnahan to ask for any clarity he could offer about his remarks. He did not immediately respond.

His comments drew the ire of EMILY’s List communications director Jess McIntosh, among others.

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. ET

Breshanan tweeted an apology later Wednesday night.

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Notable Replies

  1. Well of course he didn’t.

    (See: Politico)

  2. Avatar for msny msny says:

    I challenge John Bresnahan. Sorry. I don’t believe that he is a journalist.

  3. misogynists, like racists with racism, prove themselves when they deny misogyny.

  4. I’m actually glad Bresnahan deleted his tweets. It shows he knows he fucked up… bigtime.

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